Disclaimer: I do not own Hunter x Hunter

Story so far: After their small 'procrastination and digression', they were back to their original track to visit a certain Lady in Red. With luck, they managed to reach the place. However, they found themselves encountering just another mythical creature with the intent to dig out their most unpleasant side: their pasts.


Chapter 13

LOOKING BACK part 1 - CRIMSON SKY


"Today will be the first day of the fourth week since we got out of Chiron's forest, and we have been walking non-stop, yet we have not reached the place yet?" Kurapika mumbled as she stuffed her thin blanket into her backpack.

"Don't ask me. The only guide we have is that Unicorn foal, and all we can do for the time being is just to follow her around." Kuroro shrugged as he did the same.

The moment they got out of the enchanted forest, they realized that they emerged in a forest that they were totally unfamiliar about. It was just possible that they ended up in the other side of the globe, all things about magical creatures considered. After all, the Harpy had not given them time to observe their surroundings as they were whisked away to Chiron's forest. They walked for one week, before Kurapika was assaulted by her monthly menstrual period and thus they had to stop for a week or so in a city, and then afterwards they had been walking nonstop for yet another week.

"We should name her. It's pretty inconvenient to keep calling her 'Unicorn foal'." Kurapika said as she stroked her silvery mane. The foal nuzzled her hand gently.

"That'll be your job." Kuroro said offhandedly as he slung his backpack over his shoulder.

Kurapika shot him a hostile glare, but said nothing in return. As they traversed the forest, with the Unicorn slightly in front as their guide, Kurapika mulled over it. Somehow, she could not think of a name for the Unicorn foal. It was as if her mind was blocked. After a while, she was about to give up when suddenly she heard a voice.

Una…

"Huh? Did you say something?" Kurapika's head looked up and glanced to Kuroro.

Kuroro regarded her with a slightly surprised look. He raised an eyebrow, yet he kept his walking pace undisturbed.

"I thought that was you." He said back.

Una…Me…

In unison, both averted their gaze to the Unicorn foal, who had stopped and twisted her neck to gaze back to them with her beady eyes. She then nudged Kurapika's cheek lightly with her nose.

"It was you." She exclaimed as she patted the Unicorn's head. "So Una is your name?"

Again, the Unicorn nuzzled her nose against Kurapika's palm and breathed out softly, as if approving her assumption. Kuroro looked at the unicorn with newfound interest.

"Then why didn't you tell us earlier?" Kurapika asked with slight purr in her voice as she patted the magical horse lovingly.

"I guess that's because she is still a foal, after all. She is barely a toddler, in human terms." Kuroro suggested. "She can barely string words together into sentences."

Kurapika did not respond to Kuroro's hypothesis, and she merely gazed at the white horse with admiration. She was so young yet she had dared to venture the world to accompany them. That was very brave of her. It made Kurapika pondered about the foal's family. Why had she not seen her folks back then in Chiron's forest?

"Speaking of which, we might as well try our luck."

Kurapika looked up and gave him a confused look.

"Una, can you tell us how far more is the Lady in Red's place?" Kuroro took one step and looked at the foal directly in the eyes. He could only hope that the foal could construct coherent sentence, since she appeared to understand human's speech already.

Not far…She said telepathically.

"So it's already close?" Kurapika asked with her hope high.

Not close…Una replied again, her answer contradictory.

"What?" Kurapika's shoulder visibly sagged. "So which is it?"

"Both. Not too far, yet not too close. Which means, we should just keep walking and we'll probably reach our destination by today." The older man shrugged casually, as if he had no care of the world.

"Very helpful." She said sarcastically; which Kuroro ignored. He was already used to her constant sardonic comments.

"And very confident of you." Kurapika narrowed her eyes to him with slight pout; which Kuroro responded with a smirk.

It took her aback slightly, since she actually rarely saw him smirking in such playful manner. He would usually be cool, or evilly mischievous, or smug, but not playful. For a split second, she was so shocked she felt rooted to the ground. Kuroro turned around and resumed walking, dragging her along with the ever-present bind between them. Sure, the bind had significantly expanded by a large extent, and Kurapika just could not turn a blind eye on it. Still, she would prefer not to bring up the subject, if possible. It would just make situation more awkward; and she had had enough of being in many embarrassing and awkward situation with the Spider Head.


"Is that the place, Una?" Kurapika stroke the mane of the Unicorn foal as she overlooked the solitary isle floating not too far away to the ocean.

"We've found the place, but the problem now is how do we get there? It's entirely off the shore, and there is no transportation to get there." Kuroro stepped forward and stood at the edge of the cliff where they were standing and scanned the surrounding.

There were no towns or any signs of civilization nearby, and fishermen were unlikely to be there, since the shore was rather rocky. Swimming all the way to the isle was close to impossible, if not suicidal. Kuroro could not use his Teleportation ability since the skill required him to be in the destination place at least once before. He could not teleport to an entirely new place. One way to cross the ocean to get there was to fly, but none of them had such ability. If the harpy from before was there to transport them all the way there, it would not be much of a problem. It was unfortunate that it was a Unicorn that went with them, not a Pegasus.

Ride Una… The foal suddenly told Kurapika as she nudged her with her nose. Una walk on water…

"Ride you? Can you do it? You are still a foal."

"It should be okay, considering that you are small. She is no ordinary foal, after all." Kuroro shrugged. "However, the problem is only you can ride her."

"Why?" Kurapika blinked.

"It's considered sacrilege for men to ride a Unicorn." Kuroro said with flat tone, as if disinterested.

Una approached Kuroro and then nudged his shoulder gently. Ride me… She said again, this time to Kuroro. Kuroro turned to her and stroked her mane, but he had a hard expression on his face.

"You'll be ostracized by your kind." He stated, as if reminding her. Kurapika looked on as she observed the pair.

Folks abandon Una…Una alone… She said sadly as she leaned her head towards Kuroro, enjoying his attention.

Kurapika twitched when she heard it. Somehow, she felt bad for the horse, and angry at her people. Why did they abandon her? Such innocent, pretty thing. However, when the horse said that she was alone, Kurapika's heart especially throbbed. It felt as if her heart was pinched; she was reminded of her time travelling alone from Rukuso Mountain. That time, she felt alone in the world.

"That's why you are coming along with us?" Kuroro asked again.

Una goes with you…Una helps you… She shifted so that Kuroro was facing her flank; signaling that she was ready for him to mount her. She had no care if her people would ostracize her or not; they already abandoned her. Kuroro stared at her for a while, before he patted the horse on her back lightly, and then with a jump he sat on the back of the horse. When Kuroro mounted her, she did not flinch or twitch; as if Kuroro was never on her back, as if he had no weight.

"Come on." Kuroro gestured at Kurapika to hop on behind him.

"Will she be alright? I mean, if two people are riding her…" Kurapika looked at the foal hesitantly. Kuroro rolled his eyes in exasperation.

Una strong…Una can carry Kuroro and Kurapika…

"Hey, she remembers our names." Kurapika said with wide eyes.

"Hurry up, kid." Kuroro said, his tone mocking.

"I'm not a kid!" With a scowl, Kurapika mounted Una and sat behind Kuroro.

"Then act accordingly." Kuroro said with a soft snort, still mocking her.

Suddenly, without prior warning whatsoever, Una started to trot towards the rocky sea. Startled, Kurapika yelped and instinctively grabbed on to whatever was in the vicinity of her arms; Kuroro's waist. When she suddenly clung to him like there was no tomorrow, Kuroro stiffened but said nothing. He held on to Una's mane, careful not to grab the silvery strands too strongly lest he accidentally hurt her. And so they began their Unicorn-riding towards the floating isle off the rocky shore.


Kurapika threw a quick glance across her shoulder. She could see the rocky shore not far away; and now they were Unicorn-riding in the middle of a small gulf between the isle and the shore. She noticed that there were rippled of water whenever Una stepped on the water surface, but she knew that the Unicorn did not touch the water surface; she floated above it. Without much difficulty or any other problems, they reached the isle dry and safe. Both hurriedly dismounted from the Unicorn as soon as they reached dry ground.

Right before them was a cave; and from the looks of it, an underwater cave. The path from the mouth of the cave was winding down, and it was almost pitch-black there. There was no sound of wind blowing from the cave, and so the cave was a dead end.

"So down we go, huh?" Kurapika muttered in low voice.

"What else?" The older man shrugged.

Una guides you… The Unicorn foal stepped forward and entered the cave. As soon as she was swallowed by the darkness of the forest, suddenly her horn glowed like an ember torch. It provided them adequate light for their footing so that they would not trip. So the trio advanced down the rocky terrain, down into the belly of the cave.

For several minutes they continued to traverse the straight, down, yet rocky path. Una did not seem to have any trouble walking down the slope. After some minutes or so, they saw a light at the end of the cold, dark tunnel.

"I have been waiting for you." A velvety, smooth voice of a woman greeted them. Kuroro flinched ever so slightly. The voice reminded him of Ishtar herself.

When they finally emerged into a spacious room at the end of the tunnel, they were faced with a woman with extraordinary appearance. She had piercing golden eyes, and her hair was the colour of flame and gold. Her garbs were silk and satin with the colour of deep translucent red and glitters of gold. On her head was a gold circlet with a single ruby stone with an outrageously huge feather sitting on it on her forehead. The feather seemed to glitter like pixie dusts; its red was subtle like a kindling fire. She was sitting on a couch covered in red satin.

"A Phoenix." Kuroro muttered as soon as he laid his eyes on her. He could not be mistaken on it. The Lady in Red, yes he should have suspected as much.

"That is what I am. Now come here, kids. I've heard from Chiron and Ishtar of your circumstances." She motioned at them to come closer.

Only Una came to approach her. The Phoenix then cooed when she saw her and patted her silver mane gently.

"Ooh, what a pretty little thing you are. And such a pretty name you have too. Una, is it?" She looked at the Unicorn foal with loving eyes. The Unicorn licked her hand once, appreciating her attention towards her.

"Are you going to help us with it?" Kurapika asked with slight suspicions.

"What else am I going to do? My good old friends sent you to me after telling me all of those stuffs. Of course I can't reject them. 'Sides, you've come all the way here from that old ass' forest."

Kurapika looked at Kuroro, and so did he. They were thinking the same thing: considering that they were old friends, their ways of talking were sure very different. While Ishtar was polite and formal, Chiron was archaic, and this Phoenix was quite a modern and funky one.

"Regardless of all those…" She looked at them with now very interested eyes. "I am quite curious about it myself."

Pride aside, Kurapika would have backed away when the Phoenix looked at her in such fashion. It gave her goose bumps. She looked like she was going to have a fun on her expense.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Come closer, I don't bite."

None of them made a move, and so the Phoenix sighed.

"Fine if you don't want to come closer. Big deal." She rolled her eyes. "I can do it from here, anyway." She shrugged nonchalantly.

All of the sudden, fire spread from where the Lady in Red was sitting. Out of instinct and reflex, both tried to avoid the fire but they were too slow. Or rather, the fire was moving way too fast. In no time the flames were already all over them, licking their clothes and skin. Panicked, Kurapika tried to put off the flame but Kuroro stopped her.

"Don't worry, a Phoenix's flame doesn't burn." He told her with his grip tight around her arm. "…unless you are not a virgin, that is." He said as he looked away.

Kurapika could feel her face burning from the embarrassment. Why did the man have to say such thing just at such critical moment?

"As expected from Isthar's dearest 'son'." She grinned, ignoring Kuroro's subtle glare. "Well then, shall we proceed?"

"Where?" Kuroro asked from amidst the roaring flame.

"To the virtual space that is my world." She smiled at them with her characteristic amused grin. "To the cinematic record of your pasts."

Before they could utter a single syllable to express their surprise and profound protests, the flames swallowed them whole and they were sent into the abysmal depths of endless darkness. Kuroro was still holding Kurapika's arm as they were free-falling in the darkness.

"The past…is worth to learn."

And both of them were swept into total oblivion.


When he came to his sense, he was already alone in darkness. He was not holding Kurapika's arm anymore, she was nowhere to be found. He had no sense of up and down, left and right. He was just…floating in the darkness. Lost on what to do, Kuroro waited. He was a careful man, and so he would wait and see of what would happen. From her words, the Phoenix meant no harm to them. Suddenly, the corner of his eyes caught a flickering light. He turned around and saw a dot of light from distant away. Well, he had no idea whether the light was far away or whether it was really so small he thought it was far away. In any case, suddenly the light grew brighter and larger in size, and he was soon overwhelmed by it. Out of reflex, Kuroro covered his eyes with his hands. When he felt that the light had dimmed out, he pried open his dark eyes carefully, and found that he had landed in an entirely unfamiliar, down-to-Earth, place. He was in a forest.

"Aniki! Aniki, where are you?"

Kuroro heard the voice of a little girl. He spun around in alert, yet he had half-anticipated on what he would see. True enough, he saw a little girl; blonde, aquamarine-eyed and barely 13 years-old, stumbling from the bushes near him. He had prepared himself to see a younger version of Kurapika, but still he was not prepared to see such a small, cute, little girl. She looked exactly like a doll; and even Kuroro Lucifer could not deny it.

"Aniki!" The girl continued to scream as she searched around the bushes for her older brother.

"Over here, Kairi." Another voice; clearly a male yet there was still childishness in it, was heard from behind one of the bushes.

Kuroro thought he misheard it, but he knew that his hearing was still perfect. Just when he thought that he was seeing Kurapika in her childhood, the little girl had different name. Kairi. Was she a different child or…Was it as he suspected?

A figure emerged from behind one of the bushes. Kuroro turned around and looked at that particular figure. He rarely showed it when he was surprised or taken aback; a raised brow was the most he would do. However, he knew not whether it was because he knew that he was alone there, but he visibly showed a surprised expression when he saw an exact duplicate of Kurapika; the present Kurapika; his Kurapika.

Just as I thoughtHe mused silently. A twin brother, about 5 years older than her…And her real name is really Kairi, not Kurapika.

"Kairi, you are skipping classes again, aren't you? You are supposed to be in class right now!" The boy version of Kurapika; the one Kuroro was accustomed to when Kurapika was still disguising herself as a boy, held his arms akimbo and towered over the little girl, trying to look as intimidating as possible.

"But the classes are booooooring, I can die out of boredom." The girl pouted and put her hands behind her head, clearly not intimidated by her older brother. She knew her brother all too well to be scared by him.

"You think you are so smart, eh? Thinking you already know whatever they are teaching in classes." The older brother narrowed his eyes.

"But you teach more than they do in classes. I know you skipped classes, too, when you were my age! Father and Mother told me so! They said: 'Don't be like your brother, he always skipped classes and wandered in the woods, doing only-God-may-know stuffs.' There. You learn more in outside than in classes, don't you? So do I."

Kuroro snorted in amusement. She said all those with her arms across her chest and her head held up high, challenging her brother. That was so like her. The older brother, however, massaged the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily. He stared at his little sister and eventually shook his head with another heavy sigh.

"What are you sighing for? You are just like a bitter old man, Grandfather Kurapika." The little girl grinned from ear to ear at her brother; the real Kurapika.

"Oh, be quiet, Kairi. Or I won't be teaching you anything today." He threatened her, and this time it worked.

"Don't be upset, Aniki. You are the best!" She quickly clung to his neck and kissed him on the cheek. Kuroro went frigid for a split second; that was exactly what she did to him when she was in her drunken stupor. "Come on, come on, let's get going."

"Before they catch you, right?" The older boy smirked at her, but nonetheless took her arms and took off into the depths of the woods, taking the little girl with him.

Suddenly, everything went into a static and the air hummed softly. It was as if the molecules in the air vibrated. Kuroro could feel the time and space being distorted, and when everything settled down and the humming and vibrations had stopped, he was in another part of the woods.

"Kairi, I got a present for you."

Kuroro turned around and saw the two again. They were lying on the grass on a slope facing the ocean. The weather was warm and the sunlight was not too scorching hot. It was a perfect day to be a complete lazy bum.

"Really? What present?" She got up and beamed at her twin brother with her big blue eyes. It was an expression that Kuroro would never see in his lifetime.

"This." The boy fished something out of his pocket; something shiny and small. He squeezed it into his sister's hand and gave her a silly grin. She opened her palm and stared at the object on her palm. It was an earring; no, it was THE earring. Kuroro's eyes widened ever so slightly. It was the earring that his Kurapika treasured so much, and at the same time it was the one that magically disguised her as a boy for a long time.

So it was from her brother. The last memento…

"I know you don't like girly stuffs and all, but I still think you need at least an earring. So I got you the simplest and plain-looking one." The boy scratched the back of his head, rather embarrassed.

"Why only one? I thought earrings are supposed to be in a pair?" The girl lifted up the earring and held it against the sunlight. It glittered slightly as the light played its trick on the glassy surface.

"Because that one is magical; the only one of its kind. So don't lose it, okay?"

She said nothing, but instead she lunged at him and tackled him down. She hugged him to the point of suffocation.

"—can't—breathe—" He patted her shoulder to signal that she'd better stop chocking him to his death.

"Thank you, Aniki." She whispered as she loosened her iron embrace around his neck. "I love you."

The boy patted her golden crown of head; the one identical to his. On his face was a tender smile only meant for the beloved. "Same here."

Kuroro's face darkened as he watched the lovey-dovey scene before him; although he did not notice the change. It was something entirely alien to him, and he was growing uneasy to see it. Somehow, he had a bad feeling about this entire thing; about looking at his Kurapika's past. Whatever the Phoenix was plotting, it couldn't be that beneficial for him.

Suddenly, the disturbance in the air came again, and again, he ended up in another part of the same forest. He looked around, and in no time saw the two huddling up behind the bushes; the brother was teaching the sister about plants and trees, and some insects, it seemed. Kuroro glanced around. Even when he was not from there and he was not even a real thing in that virtual past that the Phoenix made, he could feel that the air in the forest was somewhat stall, and there was a bad premonition about it.

Just all of the sudden, as Kuroro had somewhat anticipated, a ruckus could be heard from not far away. Out of curiosity on the girl's part and alertness on the boy's part, the two of them got up and went towards the main road. Kuroro followed behind them, intrigued on what was going on. Along the main road, a throng of people were stampeding down the road towards the shore, where their so-called harbour was.

"Kurapika? Kairi? Thank goodness you are here. Hurry up and run!" An middle-aged lady spotted them and good-naturedly approached them.

"Auntie, what happened? Why is everyone running away from the village with such haste?" The boy looked on to the commotion with slight fear. Whatever was happening, it was definitely disastrous. For Kurutan people to be running away like that; them, the proud warriors of the Rukuso Mountain, to run away like frightened rabbits. There had to be something in the village. He had to check it out himself.

"I…" The lady spotted young sister standing not too far away. Thinking of sparing the little girl from the bad news, she whispered to the boy in low voice. "The village is attacked by a group of people. They are inhumanely strong, even the fighters are having hard time with them. What's more, it seems that they are after our Scarlet Eyes."

Us…Kuroro thought, his dark eyes glinted eerily.

In that instant, the boy's eyes turned ablaze and he turned to glare to the direction of the village. His shoulder bristled from contained anger, but he dared not to turn to face his little sister, who was still blissfully unaware on what was going on.

"Are…Father and Mother fighting, too?" He asked in a voice less that a whisper.

"Ah…Yes, of course…" The lady answered hesitantly.

"Auntie, please take care of Kairi for me. I'm going to help them."

"Kurapika, that'll be suicide! KURAPIKA!" Before the lady could grab the boy's arm from preventing him from dashing head-on to his death, he already disappeared behind the bushes, taking shortcuts towards the village.

"Auntie, where is Aniki going? Why is everyone running? Should I go after him?" The girl, panicked and lost, clutched the lady's skirt and scanned her surrounding with her blue eyes.

"No, Kairi, you are coming with me."

Before she could slip away like her brother did, the lady grabbed her wrists and dragged her along, although the girl was the most reluctant to do so. Kuroro followed the rag-tag groups of people running for their lives towards the ocean, but he spared a glance towards the direction of the village where the boy had run off to. He remembered that boy, alright.


He sat on the dry rock, waiting for the thoroughly soaked and unconscious girl to wake up. He looked up and saw that the grey sky was still tinted reddish from the earlier fire that had burned down the whole village. It was not like his group set it up; it just happened during the chaos, when everyone was busy fighting and in the process knocking everything down; which eventually resulted in fire.

Kuroro looked at the still girl. Earlier on, the girl had been forced to board the boat taking off to the ocean to escape the massacre. She had fought them, insisting that she wanted to wait for her brother. They assured her that the next group would be following them and her brother would definitely be there, so she consented for the time being. However, she was completely uncontrollable when she saw the crimson sky hovering above the village. Immediately, the oceanic blue hue of her eyes was overlapped by the reflection of the deep red colour of the burning sky. It gave off an unnerving effect, yet Kuroro could not deny that it was a very beautiful hue. He had never seen such colour before.

She had then thrown herself into the water and swam her way towards the shore. Unfortunately for her, she was just way too small to withstand the strong current, and so she was swept away and in the process, she passed out. The current washed her towards the shore, and so Kuroro had to wait for her to come around, before he could move on. Well, he could wait. Kuroro Lucifer was a patient man, after all.

Just as he leaned against the rock behind him, the girl stirred. Kuroro raised an eyebrow. Wherever and whenever, the girl would always do anything just to spite him, didn't she? Just when he was about to relax, she had to wake up.

"…A…niki…" She muttered.

Slowly, but surely, she got up and shook her head to clear up her mind. She looked up to the sky, and when she saw the ashen crimson sky, her eyes widened to their maximum size. Briskly she got up and tried to run up the hill towards the village. At first she swaggered and hobbled, but as she moved on, her strength returned and she started to dash towards the village. But when she arrived there, all was too late.

Everyone was already reduced to eyeless, and some headless, corpses. The sockets of their eyes were gaping in void, looking into the space while telling the horror they had just experienced. Her knees gave in and she collapsed to the ground. Her throat turned dry and she could not utter a single syllable. Kuroro sauntered towards her, and he casually scanned the surrounding. Yes, it was exactly as how remembered it to be. The massacre of the Kuruta tribe for the sake of their priced Scarlet Eyes; it was exactly it. He could even recognise the marks that his Spiders had left behind; the depression on the floor was Uvogin's trademark, the bullet wounds would be Pakunoda's. Seeing all those made him feel weird; it almost felt…nostalgic. He averted his attention back to the girl who owned this past. She was still on the ground, her strength sapped from her small body.

"The village…Everyone…" She muttered, finally.

Her hips still had not regained the required strength, so she had to crawl her way among the corpses. She flinched every time her gaze fell on one of those people. She recognised them in an instant, despite them losing their eyes. A couple of time she threw up, her guts unable to withstand the terror that the place was cradling. Then, finally she found what she was looking for.

"…Aniki…"

There, in the midst of a relatively clean ground, was one particular headless corpse. The tribal clothes were clean and unstained, although there were some rips here and there. Kuroro narrowed his eyes. Yes, of course he remembered. He wondered how he could forget when he looked at Kurapika's face for the first time back then in Yorkshin City. He should have recalled that face. After all, he was the one who murdered the boy who legitimately owned the name 'Kurapika'.

"ANIKIIII!"

With a sprung of her feet, she leaped towards her brother's corpse and wailed like a wounded animal. She put her heads on his chest; the heartbeats were now absent, and clutched his clothes with her trembling hands. She wailed and sobbed, paying attention to nothing else but her loss and grieve. Kuroro watched on as he stood behind her. He remembered, back then he was standing right over there, observing his subjects as they had their 'fun'. Just out of the blue, the blond boy charged at him. He remembered gazing into those Scarlet Eyes, the most beautiful ones by far at that time. He had craved for those eyes, and when he looked at his pretty face, suddenly he felt that it would be too bad if the eyes had to be separated from that face; it suited the eyes perfectly.

"Not you…Not you…" She continued to sob. "What…am I going to do…without…you?" She muttered. "You idiot…"

Kuroro sighed. What a cliché…

"Kai…ri…?"

His eyes widened. He thought he heard a voice; a full-grown man's voice. He had told his Spiders at that time to make sure that they killed everyone.

"Kairi…Is that really you?"

The voice was getting stronger, like the voice of someone who had just found a ray of hope in the deepest pit of darkness. She was instantly broken from her crying fit and looked around for the source of that voice. She then spotted a body twitching not too far away, sheltered under the shade of the fallen roof. Quickly she scrambled towards that body, and moved away the debris. A muscular man, nearing Uvogin's size, was found half-dead there. He was literally bathed in his own blood, but he still clung on to life.

What a tough man…Kuroro mused.

"Master Senso! You are alive!" She hugged him carefully, so as not to aggravate his wounds.

"I won't last long, Kairi... My death is coming to fetch me…It's inevitable…" He breathed out a painful breath, and turned to take a better look at the little girl. She was ghastly pale and sickly. "I'm so glad…to see you alive…You are my best student, Kairi…"

"No, Aniki is…" She paused, and then ducked her head. "…was your best student."

"Ah…" If his eyes were still there, Senso would have narrowed his eyes and great loss would have coloured his eyes. "I see…"

Suddenly, he was attacked by a coughing fit and blood spurted from his mouth.

"Master Senso!"

"Kairi—!" He said with ragged breath. It was a tell-tale that he was going to die soon. "Survive and live on…Don't waste your life for revenge…Don't go…after the Spiders…"

"S—spiders?"

Ah, so he was the one who lived to tell her…Kuroro nodded in satisfaction. He had been curious about it for a long time already.

"Live on, Kairi…Preserve our proud Kuruta blood…"

And then, the man breathed his last.


The girl looked on to the graves that she had painstakingly made for her fallen comrades. Her hands were calloused, there were bruises covering her arms and legs as she kept stumbling when she dragged those heavy bodies. Her eyes were still moist and swollen from the ceaseless crying during the whole process of collecting bodies and burying them. She felt like her tears had all dried up. She clutched her sling-bag and gritted her jaws with determination.

Kuroro stood behind her, watching as she tried to collect herself to prepare for the coming journey. The girl had donned her magical earring from her brother, and had assumed her boy persona; the Kurapika that Kuroro had always known. No, she was taking her brother's persona. She was living as him now, therefore she assumed his name as well.

Kurapika stood overlooking the destroyed village and the graves. His face was grim and lifeless. The only emotion there was vengeful determination.

"My name is Kurapika Kuruta. I am going to search for the eyes of my comrades, and to revenge them. I will track them down and kill every single one of those Spiders, even if it costs my life." He muttered in flat voice, as if rehearsing a memorised line.

He murmured it a few times, as if reassuring and convincing himself. Then, he turned around and walked down his path of vendetta without looking back.

And then, time stopped.

"You have always wondered what her source of strength is, haven't you?"

The voice crept its way to his ears, it was velvety and smooth, like the flow of calm water. Suddenly, he could feel her presence, right behind him. Heck, he could even feel her ever-amused golden eyes boring at the back of his head, and her ever-upturned lips grinning at him. He refused to face her.

"Do you want the answer?"

He spared her a sideways glance. Just as he turned his head, darkness swept over and once again he was engulfed in infinite blackness. Kuroro looked around in alert, but remembering that there was nothing he could do in her world, he relaxed. What would happen would simply happen. He would just wait and see.

"She began her journey with her head held high, bearing the pride of a Kuruta; as the last Kuruta alive. And now…"

The Lady in Red swept her robe to her front to reveal something behind her.

"…look at the reality."

On the ground; or what seemed to be the ground in that endless darkness, was Kurapika. She clutched her head as if afraid that the sky would fall on her. Her shoulders were trembling uncontrollably, followed by her sobs. She whimpered incoherently, and her body was curled into a tight, frail ball. It reminded him of the incident in the cave, when she beat him up and openly cried before him. This time, however, she looked more broken than ever.

"Despair was her motivation, and hatred was her fuel. Both, however…"

Kuroro heard the rattling sound of chains, dragging and slithering around him. Lately, every single time he heard the rattling of chains, the first thing that popped into his mind was Kurapika. When he looked, Kurapika was already surrounded and bound by the chains; they were all over her. She seemed oblivious of it, though.

"…they also become the manacles that tie her down. It starts from you…"

Suddenly he felt a cold touch in his left hand; the hand that he used to steal people's lives. When he looked down, he saw his hand holding a metal chain.

"…and it ends up…"

He could feel then a cold, piercing touch of the tip of a blade on his nape. It just touched him, but he could feel its sharpness. Even without him looking at him, he knew that it was the blade of the Judgment Chain.

"…at you again."

"And so what is the point in all these?" He asked coolly and emotionlessly, sporting a boring look on his poker face.

The Phoenix looked at him straight in the eyes. There was a cold, reproaching gleam in her feral eyes. Even Kuroro Lucifer had to shudder when he was graced with that kind of eyes by one of the most renowned mythical creatures.

"As long as you live, Kuroro Lucifer, she believes that this burden will never disappear. So it's up to you whether you will free her of the chains that bind her or not."

"You are telling me that I am responsible for what has become of her? Don't be ludicrous. That is the path that she has chosen on her own accord." He replied with eyes narrowed to dangerous slits.

"Don't worry, you will want to free her." She gave him the most cunning smile she could ever muster. Kuroro did not even have a chance to retaliate, when suddenly she touched his marked forehead with the tip of her index finger. "Now, off you go. Your turn is next."

Suddenly, he was helplessly thrown into an even deeper pit of darkness, where he could not even feel or see or sense his own body.


"How long are you going to lie down there and cry yourself silly? You are not a baby anymore." She said with her tone firm yet gentle.

Kurapika did not answer her. She did not even twitch when the Lady in Red called her. It was as if her soul had left her body, and she was just an empty shell. The Phoenix sighed and approached her silently. There was not a single footsteps in the infinite darkness; a space that she created with her power, as if they were in the outer space, void and airless. The Phoenix squatted in front of her and reached out to the frail girl. She supported her chin with her left hand, took a golden flock of her now longer hair with her right hand and played with it.

"How long are you going to let your past haunt you?" She asked again, her voice quieter than previously.

Earlier, when the cinematic record of her past had reached the climax; when the then-13-years-old her entered the burned down village and found her brother's decapitated body, she had broken down and wailed. The Phoenix had purposely put her and Kuroro in separate time space, to avoid any unnecessary conflicts that might arise in the process. She was right to do so. Had Kuroro been there when she broke down, she would have charged at him with absolute murderous intent. She had begged her to stop the madness and to spare her from the torture. She had no wish to see the nightmare again, much less with such accuracy.

"The past is worth to learn, but it is never healthy to cling too much to your past. It can destroy you."

"I must avenge them…otherwise they will never rest in peace…" For the first time after so long, Kurapika spoke up. Her voice was husky and coarse.

"Give me a break." The Phoenix rolled her eyes, as if tired with Kurapika's stubbornness. "That is your opinion. Did they literally tell you so?"

She did not answer.

"Recall what you teacher told you before Death took him away."

Live on, Kairi. Survive and live. Don't waste your life on revenge. Preserve our proud Kuruta blood.

"You will never earn salvation from revenge."

"…Salvation…" Somehow, the word touched the deepest part of her heart; a tiny spot that existed beyond her reach.

"Now come and prepare yourself, for what you are about to see is another painful past of the subject of your hatred and despair."

Kurapika looked up and met her golden eyes for the first time since she was thrown into this virtual space of her past. There was excitement in those eyes; it was unmistakable, but there was another hint of emotion there: curiosity. The Phoenix reached out and touched her forehead with the tip of her index finger; exactly as what she did to Kuroro. In an instant, before Kurapika could prepare herself anything, she was plunged into absolute darkness. She could feel herself in motion, but she had no sense of direction. Whether she was going up or down, or left or right, she had no idea. Just suddenly, time shifted around her and the space was distorted.

Kurapika's body felt her back slammed against something hard and solid. Her eyes blacked out for a moment, and when she had cleared her sight, she found herself looking at the ceiling of a house.


Author's Note: Yeah, yeah, I know Kurapika's past is somewhat typical and average here. And for those who dislike the idea of Kairi as Kurapika's real name, don't kill me. When I was grinding my brains to get a name, Kairi is the only suitable one that popped in my head. As for the Phoenix, I don't know why but her image is the kind of woman who can openly says: "I don't give a damn, so bug off."

Next: Kurapika's most painful past had been revealed, and now it was Kuroro's turn to have his dark past uncovered. Kurapika was then forced to see with her own eyes how Kuroro became the man he was, whereas Kuroro found himself to have been unaware of certain essential information about his own past.